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How to properly do PR attempt?



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Old 12-30-2008, 08:06 PM
Doo Doo is offline
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Default How to properly do PR attempt?

On Christmas day, I managed to make three PRs (before family woke up to open presents): Bench Press, Seated Press, and Power Clean. The bench press was only 5lb more than my last PR nearly 4 weeks earlier. I know I could have done better but I didn't try until after doing 3x3 squats.

Tomorrow, I will be doing another bench press PR attempt because I am in a Gyminee Challenge and it ends tomorrow. I'd like to also try a squat PR attempt.

How would you do this? I was thinking of doing some mobility work (ala Cressey/Robertson) and foam rolling and then do bench press PR attempt first and squat PR attempt second.
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Old 12-30-2008, 08:56 PM
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Personally I would try the squat PR first, mainly because it would take more out of me. Plus its a good way to get the body fired up.

If I had the choice though, I wouldn't do them on the same day. I guess in this case that isn't an option.

Mobility work is good. Make sure you've got a good warmup under your belt with some good acclimation and you should be set to crank out a max attempt. Maybe do some fast triples (fast on the concentric, regular speed on the eccentric, dont bounce) during your warmup rather than just doing them at normal tempo.

The other thing I would stress is to do the PR safely. It sounds funny and sort of intuitive, but grinding out a PR can put you in a very vulnerable spot. Don't let a competition that ends tomorrow put you out for 6 months from tomorrow. I'm not saying you shouldn't grind it out, but if you're not feeling safe or your body is saying no...rack the bar or dump it and live to fight again.
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Old 12-30-2008, 09:19 PM
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@Kane,

I kind of mixed up a couple of thoughts. My Christmas day PRs were not planned. I just felt good and whipped 'em out and some were for multiple rep/set combinations.

Tomorrow, I want to test 1RM for bench press and, less importantly, squat and see if I cannot get PRs. So my thread title should have been how best to do a 1RM attempt.

I will remember heed your advice about not letting a competition prompt me to do something stupid. I think I may warm up with squats to get body fired up as you say but since the competition is really for bench press, I will not do the squat 1RM test first and will likely wait until Friday.
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Old 12-30-2008, 09:50 PM
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I was assuming you were trying for a 1RM, but my advice is pretty general for any sort of PR attempt. I think

If you don't know what your 1RM is or don't even know where it would be, just ease into it. Hell, even if you do know what it would roughly be you should still ease into it. Coming off your warmup start doing sets of single reps that you know you can handle and keep adding small increments to the bar. You should leave plenty of rest between sets, time is your friend in this sort of thing so don't be afraid of a 5 min break between the heavy sets. Just keep adding small increments and you'll find your max. It doesn't do any good to bench (random number) 235x1 and then miss 250x1 on your next attempt, you've got a range of 15lbs there. It might not seem like much but even a couple of pounds can mean something when you're playing with single reps.
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Old 12-30-2008, 09:59 PM
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I havent a clue whast you guys are talking about? So that leads me to this. what are yall talking about? PR? 1RM? I dunno the terms yall are using.
I feel like a retard. But i guess the dumbest question is the one you dont ask right?
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Old 12-30-2008, 10:19 PM
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RM=Rep Max
1RM is just a short way of saying 1 Rep Max. Meaning the most weight you can do for 1 rep on a given exercise.
You can have 3RM, 5RM etc. etc.

PR=Personal Record
Most you've ever lifted for X reps on a given exercise.

They sound the same but they can be different. You could currently have 1RM of 300 but a PR of 315, that sort of thing.

Its not a dumb question, I asked it at one point in time
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Old 12-31-2008, 05:03 AM
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Yeah. It's always good to ask. Normally, I would tell someone to google a term they are not familiar with or go straight to wikipedia. The problem is that a PR search will get you a boatload of hits for "Public Relations". But, a 1RM search will get you a lot of information on "1 Repetition Maximum".

There are 1RM/3RM/5RM calculators that estimate a given rep max from other multiple rep attempts but they are only estimates. For me, they are actually pretty good but I try do avoid using them because 1) I have fun making a 1RM attempt and 2) I don't want some formula to dictate what I can lift .

Speaking of asking a question, this thread is an example of me asking a question regarding something I already know. However, I am always interested in finding out what others know. You can never tell whether someone else has a suggestion about doing something slightly different than what you had been doing that results in you doing something better than before. In this case, I probably wouldn't have waited up to 5 minutes between attempts as Kane suggested. I am going to try it.
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Old 12-31-2008, 05:15 AM
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Kane,

I will try the longer rest times. Never did that before. maybe 3 minutes at most.

I have also read that doing additional sets of an exercise after another one can be effective for strength training. I haven't read of that being used for PR attempts but what do you think of the following:
  • Foam rolling
  • Mobility exercises
  • Squat - Warm-up sets to 80% 1RM
  • Bench Press - Warm-up Sets
  • Bench Press - singles to test 1RM
  • Squat - work sets for current routine (possible PR attempt, otherwise I'll wait until Friday)
  • Bench Press - singles starting at earlier 1RM with fractional plate loading

Or do you think that I will be fatigued too much to go back to the bench?
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Old 12-31-2008, 06:23 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Doo View Post
Kane,

I will try the longer rest times. Never did that before. maybe 3 minutes at most.

I have also read that doing additional sets of an exercise after another one can be effective for strength training. I haven't read of that being used for PR attempts but what do you think of the following:
  • Foam rolling
  • Mobility exercises
  • Squat - Warm-up sets to 80% 1RM
  • Bench Press - Warm-up Sets
  • Bench Press - singles to test 1RM
  • Squat - work sets for current routine (possible PR attempt, otherwise I'll wait until Friday)
  • Bench Press - singles starting at earlier 1RM with fractional plate loading

Or do you think that I will be fatigued too much to go back to the bench?
At 3 minutes rest you might not be getting the neural recovery you need.

I don't like everything you've got there.

-Foam Roller is good
-Mobility is good
-Squat warmup to 80% is alright
-Warmup bench and singles are good
-Working sets of squats is bad, if you go for a PR you'll probably be a bit gassed. Especially if its a slow and grinding PR.
-Fractional Loading is good, but imo you should be doing this when you're finding your 1RM. Not after the squatting.

Here's why I think its a bad idea to bench after the squats:
-You won't have as much energy
-You will be more fatigued
-If you try a squat PR and miss it, it will affect your ability to hit that bench PR
-A small injury/tweak on the squat attempt will end your attempt at a bench PR
-(biggest reason) You will lose all the acclimation you did during your warmup and the sets leading upto your 1RM/PR. Not to mention you will probably be cold.

From a rest standpoint, resting for the time it would take to do the squats would not be enough to dissipate any muscular fatigue you've accumulated and after 5-10minutes (it varies depending) neural recovery will have occured. Squats will be much longer than 5-10 minutes so theyre not needed as a way to recover.

With the bench singles you've done earlier you will have primed your cns for some very heavy work, so heavy squats are not needed for this affect either.

I honestly can't see a reason why coming back to the exercise after another would be good for strength. If you have a link to where you read that I would be more than happy to read it over.
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Old 12-31-2008, 06:36 AM
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oh ok. HaHa. Thanks Kane. That makes sense.
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